The display of voters' register would begin on February 14 through 18. Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, made the disclosure Thursday at a workshop in Abuja.

Jega who was keynote speaker at the event, also said about 63.9 million Nigerians were captured in the Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines and registered as voters in the just concluded voter registration.

"In fact, with most (not all) of the data now reported by the states, we have by this morning (yesterday) registered 63,981,460 Nigerians for the coming elections. I wish to appeal to all Nigerians to also turn out in their numbers for the verification exercise that will take place from February 14 to 18," he said.

This figure, Jega said, represented about 85 per cent of returns received from registration centres across the 36 states of the federation, including Abuja. He also said, although, the final collation was yet to be made, over six million people might be disenfranchised as it was still short of the estimated 70 million prospective voters.

The INEC chairman spoke at a workshop in Abuja, where he delivered the key note address with the theme: "Nigeria 2011 Elections: Building Confidence, Enhancing Credibility," partly organised by The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), NDI, TUC, NLC, FOMWAN, CDHR and JDPC.

According to him, the 2006 population census figures were used at the commission's planning stage, to project 70 million as expected eligible voters.

The chairman also said the commission was pleasantly surprised by the huge number of Nigerians who turned out to participate in the exercise, attributing it to the evidence of renewed confidence in the electoral process.

He said: "We have been surprised by the level of turnout and the large numbers that registered in the end. The list will be displayed in all polling units during the period for the public to register their claims and objections.

"This exercise did not take place in the immediate past and that partly explained the problems of the now old voter register. This is therefore an opportunity for people to deal with irregular entries in the register.

"Perhaps you know an underage registrant or somebody who procured double registration or any other fraudulent practice.

"This is an opportunity to tell the commission and we promise to deal with such cases expeditiously according to the law.

Jega admitted that INEC had learnt lessons from the past in preparing for the registration exercise and the election proper, explaining that this was what made INEC to take the technical side of the registration exercise from ICT contractors.

He expressed delight that Nigerian IT experts were able to develop the required expertise to deal with the challenges as they arose.